


Running in the dark

by Kirrithian



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: A little bit bispearl, Backstory, Bismuth drinks respect Pearls juice, Bismuth is trying her best, Bispearl origins, But Pearl has Rose on her mind, Canon Compliant, Cracked Gems, Crystal Gems, Early Rebellion, Gem War, Gen, Rebellion, The Pearl I know never jumps into my arms, Tunnel collapse, generic battle and fighting injuries, go home you're cracked, rebellion era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28884090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirrithian/pseuds/Kirrithian
Summary: Fresh to the rebellion, Bismuth gets a full taste of battle and the chaos that comes with it on her first mission when she gets seperated and stuck on the wrong side of the enemy with a reckless, damaged, and desperate Pearl.Speculative fic on the seeds of Bispearl, and what the early rebellion looked like. (Incl lots of Bismuth seeing Pearl like O.O [chugs respect pearls juice])
Relationships: Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	Running in the dark

Excitement turned to something else at the thought of the approaching battle. It was all well and good knowing she wanted to fight Homeworld, but finally throwing her lot in with the rebels and doing the deed brought up a roiling lava-belly of nerves. There would be no going back from this.

Rose seemed to sense her unease. "It'll be fine, it's just a quick smash and grab. Get any Quartz out the way, break the materials and go. It should slow down construction on the kindergarten."

"I don't like it," the Pearl said, stepping forward. Bismuth had wondered at her presence ever since she'd arrived on Earth and first seen her, slipping in and out of various construction sites to test seeds of discontent. She knew she fought, she'd heard the stories, she knew there was a steel to this gem that she'd never seen before in a Pearl. A Pearl that drew a sword and took on Homeworld, defying every expectation, and cutting down every doubter standing in her way. A Pearl somehow still overlooked in the shadow of Rose Quartz. It seemed impossible, so wrong, and yet in these bare few weeks since first meeting them she'd begun to think (decided? It was very late to be having doubts now) that so much about Homeworld was wrong too. That was why she was here after all. The idea of being stuck in the same monotonous orders and expectations forever already drained her so much that when the first whispers of 'we can change it all' echoed around, when that hint of the freedom to be grasped came within reach she'd willingly flung herself into the cause.

"We've got height advantage and a choke point on the pass here," Pearl jabbed at the map, "but we're still too vulnerable from above ourselves. These cliffs... it's crying out for an ambush."

Rose blinked. "We are the ambush."

"Another ambush."

"We've got this. We'll be in and out before you know it. Besides, it's not just us now; Bismuth can be lookout, watch our backs," Garnet announced with confidence, managing to add a dash of burning fear and the freezing terror of expectation to that bundle of nerves in Bismuth's chest. She was the third Crystal Gem she'd met, and fusion between a Ruby and a Sapphire that still somehow retained the Sapphire's skill at seeing the future. A fusion! Of two different gems! And a Sapphire and a Ruby no less! It was unheard of, an upper crust mixing, but also choosing to fuse... and stay fused. Bismuth couldn't ever even have dreamed of such a thing, yet those two- they seemed so happy and content as they were, and more than happy to smash some Homeworld gems to keep it that way. 

Freedom. That's what they were fighting for, freedom from the controls of Homeworld, freedom to see organic life thrive, freedom to live and do as they please, even fusing. They just had to stop the colony. It seemed a daunting task, impossible to even consider, but already these few gems had sown such chaos and confusion that Homeworld had conjured up many more cohorts of them in their imaginations and whispered rumours, desperately trying to account for the outsized victories they had scored. They'd even hounded Blue Diamond off the planet, the ambush at the sky arena sending scandalised ripples across the cosmos.

"But she's so new." Pearl half squinted at her, doubt written all over her face. "How do we know she won't go running back to Homeworld to sell us out, stab us in the back? Best keep her up front where we can see her."

L  
"She'll just get in the way." There was a pause, an awkward silence as they all looked at Bismuth. Bismuth felt she had to say something.

"She's right." She gave them a smile and a half shrug to try and reassure them, only to have to fight not to freeze under their attention. _gowithitgowithitgowithit_ \- "We had a Peridot come down once who decided our console work wasn't up to standard, and that she, personally, would be installing the rest of them. But she didn't know how we worked, we were a team y'know, a well oiled machine that got synched up and get the jobs done in half the time others would. But the Peridot just went off doing her own thing, got in the way, took a wrong step and ended up pulling nails out her form for weeks. I don't mind hanging back a little, it gives me a chance to see how it's done, see how you fight." Bismuth noticed Pearl was still scowling. "Better that I'm not getting in your way."

"She'll be fine," Garnet said slapping Bismuth on the back and knocking the air out of her. 

Pearl let out a disapproving hmm, drew her sword, flicking it over her head. Bismuth found herself tracking the shining sliver as it swished through the air. It was curved, a sharp edge running up the broadside. Bismuth found herself wondering how heavy it was. Seemed rather thin. "We'll be watching you. If you betray us, we will hunt you down and-"

"Pearl," the quiet warning from Rose Quartz calmed the Pearl. "We should go."

"Don't worry," Bismuth assured them, "I won't let you down!"

The tunnel wasn't obvious from the path, tucked behind an outcrop dotted up amongst a field of boulders, but it was the perfect point to launch an ambush from, the long but covered route from the next nearest warp pad a planned one- the Crystal Gems had been carefully positioning the pads behind the scenes. By the time they were done though, their exit would be far closer, and nerves bunched up again as light from the warp pad flared up over the hill.

"Let's go." Rose, Pearl and Garnet moved out, shifting silently one after the other through the gap, a gemmed pat on the arm the last parting encouragement as they descended to their hiding place. It fell quiet in their absence, Bismuth left waiting behind hidden in the tunnel still.

It was nerve wracking seeing the guard of Quartz heading past, a colourful array of Homeworld Gems marching in near unison, and Bismuth couldn't help watch the Crystal Gems, crouched behind a large boulder, watching and waiting for the perfect moment: the ambush would fail if they struck too soon, or were seen before they passed. The element of surprise was essential to turn the tide in their favour. But their target was clear, their vantage point proving its worth as a long stretcher brimming with tightly packed equipment came into view. They'd already done their work in damaging the Kindergarten warp pad, maneuvering the bits and pieces into place- a requisition here, a delayed engineer there- to make this ambush possible. Bismuth marvelled at the strategy of it. It made it all seem possible. They just needed to finish the last move.

Bismuth had tested her hammer several times, shifting that familiar tool of her work, but still the idea of swinging it in anger against another gem once again brought an unease she couldn't shift. Maybe she wouldn't need it.

A yell snapped her attention back down. She'd almost missed it, the Crystal Gems sprung from their hiding spot and straight into the fray, scattering their opposition here there and everywhere. The action came thick and fast; Garnet swinging her thick starred gauntlets and toppling an Amethyst and a Cloud Quartz before they knew what was happening. Rose coming in from the other side, her great curving shield cutting through a whole rank of blues and greens, throwing up dust as some of them dissipated. Then Pearl was there too, ducking underneath and taking down another three with a slash then dancing away with a balletic twirl before taking up the fight against two more. 

In complete disarray the troops at the front turned back to face this new threat, hounded back into the fray by a fierce looking black and white Obsidian. But again and again the Crystal gems beat them down, Rose and Garnet taking out two or three at a time. Pearl was there too, appearing in front of cocky gems that thought to try and outflank them, dancing around and fighting like a thousand swords whilst she only had one. Her skills were flaky and she took more than a few hits too, looking increasingly ragged as she held the defense. She kept trying to catch the enemy away from Rose, picking herself up again and again with blazing eyes, as she ducked and dived until the opportunity arose and she sent her opposition tumbling back to their gem. Rose barely had a scratch on her.

The warp pad chimed. Oh Stars! Reinforcements, more Quartz piling in from behind too! The Crystal Gems hadn't noticed. For a moment Bismuth hesitated, trying to figure out what to do. She had to warn them! 

But they had their own problems, mired in a fierce battle against the Quartz, organisation starting to triumph over surprise. With a cry the Obsidian charged into the fight, an enormous mace in her hands and swung, quick and vicious, ready to take out Rose's exposed side. As before Pearl appeared out of the blue between them, sword raised but it was too thin, too small, too late. The weapon hit, shattering the sword in an instant and sending Pearl flying bodily back through the air, clear up and over the top of the fight to the other side. She ploughed a furrow through the dirt, sliding 'til she came to an abrupt halt with a crack up against a boulder, and laid there somehow un-poofed, stunned and dazed, and right in range of the flanking party. 

The nearest Quartz leapt after her, raising two gauntleted hands ready to bring it down on this easy target to finish her off, and Bismuth was there, charging in on a bundle of adrenaline with a cry. She met the surprised Quartz shoulder first, knocking them to one side and following it up with a hammer blow to the jaw that sent the gem skittering off down the slope before she realised what was happening. Bismuth couldn't believe it! Everything was buzzing, thrill on a knife edge, and she quickly turned on the others, giving the second one a punch too, sending it over the edge with a scream. Two down! She puffed herself up and eyed the other four who had halted their advance to take stock of this new opponent, glancing around trying to figure whether any more would appear from the woodwork. 

Bismuth flexed into hammers, giving them a wave. "You wanna piece of this?" 

Apparently not. They slunk back a little, regrouping further up the path. Good. A little way below she could see Garnet and Rose Quartz comfortably laying into another half dozen quartz soldiers, some already retreating. Even better. She could take these troublemakers herself. Then one of them grabbed a boulder, and threw it straight overhead at Rose, the same panicked urge to throw herself between it gripping Bismuth too in the all too brief seconds it passed.

But she needn't have worried; the whistling flight alerted Rose, and the boulder crumbled against her shield, the shards rattling off into unfortunate Quartz. What was that shield made of?!

She turned back to find them aiming the second boulder at her. She dove out the way.

"Rose-nngh!" 

Pearl. She was trying to get up, strewn with grazes and dirt, still clinging to the hilt of her sword. It waved through the air and she shook as she tried to shove herself up. "I have to-nngyah!" 

She glitched again, slumping back down on the rock. Cracked. Another boulder landed, far too close for comfort and Bismuth cursed, dashing over to join her. The Quartz seemed to have settled on this new tactic, filling the air around them with stones and dust, cutting them off from the others.

"Rose!" Pearl's cry echoed around, her desperation filling the air as she tried to get up again and fell to another glitch.

Stars! Bismuth crouched down beside her, hands fluttering as she tried to figure out what to do. "Shhh!" She'd bring the rest of the quartz down on them!

"I need to get to Rose!"

"In this weather?" Bismuth quipped, as rocks intermittently landed all around them, but the joke went unnoticed, Pearl still trying to get up.

"She needs our help!" 

Bismuth glanced at the spiderweb of cracks that were slowly continuing to splinter round the edges. "Shhh, you're in no state to fight." Pearl gave Bismuth a baleful glare, before her attention snapped to something behind. A loud cry from up above reveal more Quartz emerging onto the cliffs, crowding around and ready to hurl chaos and more boulders upon them. Their advantage had gone.

"We need to pull back. Can you walk?" Pearl nodded and tried to pull herself up again, tottering into Bismuth as she tried to find her balance. 

Cracked, right across the gem...

She pushed Bismuth's arm away with a snap, "I've got this."

A boulder crashed nearby, this new target a more attractive proposition to the Quartz above. Before she had a chance to complain Bismuth scooped Pearl up, dumping her over her shoulder, and half-sprinted back up to the cliff, ducking and weaving behind cover as much as possible as they were hounded by stoney shrapnel. But they made it, tucking back into the safety of the tunnel, Bismuth carefully resting Pearl up away from the entrance.

Bismuth snuck over to the entrance way, unable to get too close from the noisy array of flying debris from the stones that rained down after them.

"Ahh!" 

Bismuth glanced back. "Pearl," she was on her feet again, bent over double as the glitch passed, "take it easy."

She staggered a bit, lurching upright as she advanced on Bismuth. "What did you do that for?! Are you trying to let Homeworld win? Are you trying to get them captured, or shattered?"

"I was trying to stop you getting shattered."

"That doesn't matter- we're supposed to be out there fighting! Rose needs us!" 

"Oh, so it's finally 'us'? Hey!" Bismuth grabbed at her as she tried to storm past. "You can't go out there!"

"We have to help her!"

"She can take care of herself! Pearl!" Pearl whipped around and glared at Bismuth yet again, pulling herself clear.

"I, am going to do what I can to fulfil our mission" Pearl announced, "like we're supposed to. Like you're supposed to. Are you a Crystal Gem or not?" They stared each other down. "I am going out there to help them, to help Rose. Now get out of my way."

Bismuth held her ground. "They're throwing boulders three times your size, you'll get crushed!"

"I've fought Quartz ten times my size, don't you dare think I can't stand up for myself in a fight."

She could barely stand! "Fight?" Bismuth folded her arms. "With what exactly?"

Pearl finally glanced down, noticing the absence of her blade. She muttered darkly and her hand automatically flew up to her gem.

"Wait!" Bismuth's cry came too late, a blazing glitch running through Pearl, sending her to her knees again, Bismuth trying to catch her on the way down. She fumbled over her, helping support her up against the wall again as the shuddering streaks gripped her, hovering by her side until they passed.

"Rose..." 

Bismuth's heart panged at the small, almost pained whine, the first few tears creeping out from the Pearl, attempts to blink them away hindered by residual after-glitches.

"Look, you're in no state to fight, but I can. Rose asked me to watch your backs, and that's exactly what I'm doing. That's exactly what I'm going to do." Bismuth waited for an answer, a little worried she'd overstepped the mark. " **I'll** get the others, **I'll** help Rose. You need to stay here, keep an eye on the tunnel for me yeah?" But Pearl seemed distracted, a little dejected, and barely noticed her.Bismuth turned her attention outside again. 

Visibility was poor, and the sounds of fighting much closer than before, but familiar yells told her Rose and Garnet were fighting still. Just where? They could be five or five hundred metres away and she wouldn't know, and all the while boulders fell around, some cracking against the entrance way. It was close, too close. She had to do something!

She couldn't see them!

"Rose...need,"

Bismuth spun round to see Pearl propped up against the wall, making yet another concerted effort to get to the entrance, and dove at her, pulling her back inside, the two of them tumbling on the floor. Bismuth's arm jarred as she tried to make sure Pearl didn't crack her head.

"Are you crazy? You're already cracked, do you want to get shattered too?"

"Rose...heal..." Pearl tried to get up, but Bismuth pinned her in place, noting with a sinking heart that the cracks had grown, the edges of focus fading even further from her gaze into confusion. She needed healing. "Fight," she insisted still, hand rising to find it empty, glitches flickering over her. She blinked a little bit more, trying to look around. "Sword?"

"It broke."

"Oh." Her hand went to her gem, finally discovering the cracks, tracing over them with mute detachment.

"Stay here. I'm going to see if I can help the others."

"Rose?"

"Yes, I'll get Rose." Bismuth wasn't sure if the quiet was a good thing, but for the moment Pearl had decided to stop trying to get up. It would have to do. Bismuth had to go outside.

She barely made it a few paces when an enormous boom rocked the side of the mountain, cracks echoing round in thundering claps. The cries of the Quartz high above quickly disappeared into the woosh of falling dirt, trembling to a roar as tonnes of rock and stone descended over the entrance.

Bismuth turned, already running, catching a last glimpse of Pearl before they were plunged into darkness, rock and earth trembling around her, crumbling at her heels. She grabbed for where Pearl should have been, catching shirt and dragging her close as she ran, sprinting as fast as she could as pebbles and stones pelted her shoulders, a frantic dash chased by collapsing rock and blind panic that roared around her head. 

It was right on top of her, a constant rain, all that weight, all that noise! A blinding pain struck between her shoulder blades, and she stumbled and spilled on the floor.

  
She was surprised when she woke, half unsure whether it was waking in the darkness, all but buried in rubble and stones. 

Dammit, not again. Collapses were always a hazard in construction. Try as they might, even the best Bismuth might miss a concealed air pocket, or hidden seam, or simply dodgy material provided for working that gave out two weeks after the first rain. Occasionally it was simply a prank. But Bismuth were built tough, and not the sort to get easily poofed, or cracked.

Cracked.

Pearl!

Bismuth wriggled, and for a moment she thought she might be stuck, the weight of rubble holding her down. After a bit more wriggling she managed to drag her arms out, and set about trying to pull the rest of herself after. But it wouldn't shift.

No! Bismuth growled back a cry of frustration, slumping back down. This day couldn't have gone any worse if she'd tried. Her first mission and she'd wimped out, hiding in the back instead of joining the fight by their side like she should have. She hid at the back, making silly promises of watching theirs, a promise to protect them she knew she couldn't fulfill. All she'd done was take them out of the fight, put a big rainbow target on their backsides and failed to hold off or warn them of the reinforcements as they came like a coward. Worse still, her attempts at rescue only pulled herself and Pearl even further into danger, nearly getting them killed, now trapped and cut off from the others to boot. Silly, silly Bismuth! Why did she ever think she could do this? Playing soldiers. She was just some builder, lost on a battlefield.

And Pearl was a Pearl.

Bismuth sighed. With a bit of shifting and struggling she was able to wriggle her top half further out the rockfall, cleaning a few errant stones out her gem with a wince.

A muted light filled the tunnel as her gem began to glow, casting shadows over the low scree that now blocked their way out. Pearl, Pearl, Pearl!

There, scattered down the side of the tunnel, thankfully fallen clear of the debris. But she was still, laid unmoving at the side.

"Pearl, Pearl!" No response. "Can you hear me?"

Nothing. That never boded well. She'd seen this too, cracked gems that started with the smallest, seemingly innocuous crack, that would slowly expand and grow, creeping further with time and every opportunity, every expansion taking any element of sense and stability until, if unchecked, it went too far and the gem would shatter. There had been gems she'd seen fall silent, then fall apart in her comrades arms. Too many. She wasn't going to let this one go too.

With a growl she reached out, stones slipping and pinching around her as she shifted to stretch even further grabbing hold and she pulled, groaning as she tried to reel herself back in. She shifted against the weight again and again, pulling, hauling herself forward piece by piece until, with a clatter, she finally came free. She didn't even get up, clambering over to Pearl on all fours.

"Pearl,"

It was bad, she could tell that, but the light flicked shadows everywhere, hiding the true extent of the damage. Bismuth carefully eased Pearl up, gently as she could until she was propped resting against the wall. She seemed out of it, head lolling down as Bismuth carefully let her go, half expecting her to topple over and slump to the floor. But she didn't, just sitting there giving Bismuth a good look at her gem. There were many thin cracks radiating out from the main, but none quite as deep as expected. Bismuth exhaled. It could have been worse- one rogue rock in the fall, an awkward landing... but she was holding for now. They had some time, through some sheer luck. But that would only last so long. That crack needed to be fixed before it got any worse, and soon. She needed...

...Rose.

Bismuth took a quick glance over the rubble, and pulled experimentally at one or two of the rocks, but they didn't shift, heavy weights holding and threatening to push further in from behind if they had. They weren't getting out that way, not even a hint of sound or waft of air coming through from the other side. She could theoretically dig a way out, but who knew how far it would be, and what they would find on the other side? It would take time too, and that was something Pearl didn't have. She needed healing. It was a long way back to the warp pad through the mountain, but but even if she doubled back there was no guarantee that Rose and Garnet would still be there for them.

The fountain! Of course! How could she forget? It was more of a spring/puddle really, but they claimed it could heal gems. They'd taken Bismuth there soon after she'd joined, asking if she could help them build something bigger, back when they were still assuring her she didn't have to fight. 

"I want to."

She'd wanted to(!)

They said they'd collected Rose's tears there, using the strange healing power within them to restore their damaged selves and allowing them to fight over and over again. It would heal Pearl, if she could get her there in time. In the dim light she could see the cracks still growing, creeping onwards in the ticking seconds as she lay there in little restlessnesses, limp and well out of it.

"I'm sorry."

As gently as she could Bismuth scooped her up, faced the dark and ran.

It seemed barely minutes later that Bismuth was huffing and panting, her limbs getting heavy. Bismuths weren't built for running- carrying, yes, but running? They were just too big and bulky, not set up for this sort of endurance. She'd had to slow a little anyway, frustrating delays to allow her to navigate the half-remembered sharp twists and turns, all the while trying to keep her precious cargo safe. Bismuths weren't built for running, but then again, Pearls weren't built for fighting.  
Everybody knew that.

She'd found them up by the warp pad, muttered consensus amongst the newbies sending Bismuth to see what was going on. Pearl was pacing up and down, flicking her sword around. "...I don't see why I have to fight every single gem we recruit to be seen as someone that they can actually listen to. Even then some of them still think I'm some sort of circus gimmick, just some sort of oddity. Ugh!" 

"Pearl, this this part of the reason why we fight, to change things, to change their minds," Rose tried to reassure her. "They'll come round. How could they not?"

"I still shouldn't have to prove myself to them."

Bismuth stepped up, joining the two with a smile and her hands raised. "You don't have to fight me. I already heard the stories and they were impressive enough!" she chuckled. "If even half of them are true you're certainly someone I'd rather be fighting on the good side of."

Pearl glared back, muttering something under her breath.

"See Pearl? You're already making a difference."

_" If?"_

"Hey," Bismuth turned to Pearl, "you know, I can put in a good word with the others, try and bring them round a bit, get them to see sense."

"I don't need you fighting my battles for me!" She stormed off, Bismuth left bewildered in her wake.

"What?" Bismuth stuttered and stammered, trying to figure out where she went wrong.

Rose sighed. "It's okay."

"I -argh! I wanted to help! And here's me putting my big foot straight in it like an absolute clod! It's just that- She's..." Bismuth waved through the air, trying to find the words, "Doesn't she realise how impossible she is? Yet look at her, everything Homeworld thinks she couldn't be! Isn't it amazing?"

"She is."

"It's crazy. I've barely ever heard Pearls speak, and yet here she is having an argument, standing up for herself."

Rose smiled, pride shining through. "I don't think she realises how far she's come already."

"She's a Pearl."

"Yes."

"Fighting," Bismuth enthused.

"Yes."

"Homeworld have no idea what they're losing out on."

Bismuth scooped her close, and pressed on.

She didn't want to think how long she had, the only movement from Pearl either she jostling Bismuth was trying so hard to minimise, or simply muscular twitches prompted by tingling glitches that made Bismuth shiver too, these bouts punctuated by occasional moans from the beleaguered Pearl. The pressing urgency tightened around her. Rose would kill her if something happened to Pearl on her watch, and it'd be tricky running away back to the confines of Homeworld knowing she'd ruined her chance at freedom so soon.

It had been rare to ever have met a Pearl before, the high class gems in possion of one would rarely visit the half built structures Bismuth had worked on. But when she had, catching glimpses at the back of a ship across some comms, or at a distance on some distant planet, they had always been at the back, not quite hiding, but not quite being there either, stood in the shadows and utilised for only the most rudimentary of tasks. Not quite gems, almost organic, they always seemed like something else, they had always painted like something... other. She had heard them described as statues, pets, and toys, frivolous entertainment and trophies for rank posturing, but all the while they were left ignored, little more than background decoration. 

They belonged to their gem, took orders directly from their gem, obeyed and were intrinsically loyal to their gem, and yet here she was, a Pearl with a voice, fighting in a rebellion. She'd nearly put her foot in that one too, assuming Pearl belonged to Rose Quartz, simply ordered to defect and fight, muddling along in this new world she'd been dragged into- But that was before she knew, before she heard the stories of the Renegade, before Pearl came to her site, before she realised Pearls could think and speak, and argue, and plan, and fight for themselves.

What else could they do?

How much was forced to stand silent in the shadow of Homeworld?

Her feet kept pounding along, mind wandering as she kept up the rhythm.

They couldn't lose all of that now.

At long last cool air swept up into her face, lifting the stifled damp and hinting at the imminent exit. She was nearly there!

It wasn't far to the fountain from the warp pad, blossomed trees and flowering bushes lining the narrow path with colour. She emerged into the small clearing, the stone pedestal with a crudely carved Rose sat atop marking the pool. It was tiny. Bismuth laid Pearl down beside it, still unmoving, and hesitated. How was this supposed to work? Bismuth scooped a hand in, feeling the pinkish liquid tingle over her fingers before splashing it, a little unintentionally, all over Pearl's face. A good proportion of it got on her gem. 

Bismuth waited with baited breath, but besides a few superficial grazes fading away, there was little change. Gently gathering her in her arms again, she set the Pearl down in the pool. There was barely enough space, and she had to shift her again, her legs and nose up sticking out the pool just so the water could get to her gem.

That was all she could do. Bismuth found herself staring, trying to catch the cracks receding, and sat back, distracting herself with the flowers that covered the bushes all around. She'd even started idly counting them when the warp pad chimed. Intruders!

She ducked down behind the bushes before realising what she'd done, Pearl left exposed and vulnerable in the pool. She had to protect her, and this time she wouldn't leave it too late. Using the cover she crept towards the newcomers, shifting carefully to try and get a sighting before they saw her.

"...if we run a hit on that new communication hub, maybe we can find out-"

"We don't need to. It'll be fine."

"Fine is only possible, how can you be sure?"

"I-I can feel it. I believe it. They're here."

Garnet, Rose! Bismuth stepped clear.

"Bismuth!" Garnet called with delight.

"You made it!" the two of them chorused, 

"Course I did!" Bismuth declared. "It's good to see you too. I thought you'd been taken out by those Quartz!"

"Heh, they didn't last long," Garnet said, "but getting to a warp pad got a bit tricky. Took us a little while to find one." She glanced back at Rose, silence falling between them.

"We were worried you'd been buried under the rockfall." Tear tracks picked faint lines on her cheeks and her hands, even crunched into themselves, couldn't hide the dirt that covered them. "Pearl...?"

Bismuth nodded to the pool. "She got cracked. We were cut off so I brought her here. I-"

"Thank you." Bismuth barely had time to react as Rose swept forward, planted a kiss on her head that tingled and left Bismuth flushed, then left, moving on to tend to Pearl, scooping her up in her arms and letting the tears fall.

"I'm sorry," Bismuth found herself apologising to Garnet, "if I'd been there sooner, stayed with you, done something-"

"Stop." Garnet stopped Bismuth right in her tracks. "There's nothing to apologise for. She'll be fine. You did great."

"I did?"

"It was chaos out there, your first battle and you kept your head, kept Pearl safe even when you were cut off from us. You did good."

"But-" Bismuth glanced at the still sobbing Rose, trying to figure out exactly why they weren't kicking her out for at least reckless endangerment. 

"Tears of joy," Garnet observed, "just the same for healing except to her. That'll be good to boost the stocks."

"Rose?" Pearl moved, blinking and reached up into her arms.

"I'm here." 

They watched the tender reunion quietly, tight contact between the two gems that felt unnatural, almost too intimate until Garnet pulled Bismuth close under her arm and gave her a squeeze. "Woo! We did it!" Bismuth's head skipped a few steps behind as Garnet slapped her on the back again. "Not bad for a first time out!"

The noise drew Pearl's attention, looking over. "We got the shipment?"

"Yup, thanks to Bismuth here."

Bismuth blushed under the scrutiny Pearl was giving her.

"Huh."

"Pearl," Bismuth tried not to stare at the Pearl, now once again stood by Rose Quartz as if nothing had happened. There wasn't a single scratch on her- you wouldn't know anything had happened if she wasn't still a bit damp and bedraggled. She was glaring as if daring Bismuth to make a comment about it. "Good to see you're okay."

Pearl half-nodded/half ignored her with a shrug. "We've come through tighter scrapes than that. Important thing is we trashed their injecting systems."

Bismuth went a little bug-eyed. "That's what it was? But they won't be able to run the kindergarten for weeks without those!"

The three of them grinned, Pearl with the biggest smirk of them all. "Exactly."

"That's... brilliant! Ha! Ha-ha!" Bismuth had to pace up and down a few times hands tunning through her hair, a great pressure unwinding inside her. It had worked! They'd done it! Somehow they'd actually done it!

How?!?

"Don't worry, it almost never goes exactly to plan. Fights tend to do that. You just do what you can and get used to it," Garnet remarked as though one might speak about the weather.

  
But Bismuth was distracted again, watching Pearl and Rose head off, practically curled around each other. After everything that happened... "Are you sure she isn't Rose's Pearl?"

"Yes."

"But they're-"

"Yes." Garnet tilted her head, thinking for a moment. "They chose to be together, as did I."

"Why?"

"Love."

Bismuth considered it a while. She fought so fiercely... "What's it like?" In the distance Rose and Pearl were talking again, close and sincere, hands over each others. "'Love'?"

"It's a feeling. A sort of admiration, a connection with someone you want to be with, you want to know everything about, someone you love spending time with, someone you want to make happy every single second of the day because that makes you happy too. Someone you care for so much you can barely bear to be apart, because not being with them is like losing a part of yourself, and when you're with them it's so right, so giddy and exciting, like you're blind and you're flying, you're falling and you're soaring but you don't care because that is everything in the world you want to do. And it's beautiful."

"If they can barely be apart, why does Pearl risk so much?" Bismuth thought of Pearl throwing herself between Rose and the battle time and time again. "She nearly got herself shattered."

"Love isn't always easy. When you care so much about another, you'd do anything to protect them, even at your own expense."

"But can't she see how much she's making Rose worry?"

"Yes, yet she still does it. It's a point of contention between them, but one born of love. They both understand that."

Bismuth considers. "I'm not sure I understand. Why doesn't Rose just ask her to stop?"

"Because it's Pearl's choice. She's free to do as she chooses and Rose wouldn't have it any other way."

"Freedom. That's what it all boils down to isn't it?"

She thought of Pearl, a Pearl free to love whoever she wanted. A Pearl taking up a sword and choosing to fight, choosing to defy everything she was meant to be, choosing to protect Rose, to protect Earth. A Pearl, choosing her freedom.

Being able to choose meant everything.

It was beautiful.

If-

No, no if. She had already made her choice.

Where Pearl would fight, then so would she.

"So when's the next skirmish?" Bismuth turned to Garnet, a glint in her eye. "I want in."

"Heh, we had hoped you'd help more with the building first."

"Oh yeah, sure, sure we'll do that, but let's just say I've got a better idea on how I can help the rebellion now. I'm gonna need a forge, and a bit of practise first but..."

"You have something in mind."

Bismuth flashed Garnet a broad grin, cracking her knuckles. "Pearl's gonna need a better sword."


End file.
